Residency

Tip of the week: Differentiate between residents and employees

Residency Program Insider, November 22, 2011

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At the 6th Annual Residency Program Management Workshop, Franklin Medio, PhD, educational consultant, discussed elements that differentiate residents from employees during his presentation, “Residents Are Not Employees: How to Work Effectively with HR, Legal, and Hospital Administration.”

The distinction should affect how program directors manage trainee issues, such as academic deficiencies, performance evaluations, promotion, remediation, dismissal, and resident agreements. Program directors and coordinators should implement the following strategies to effectively manage administrative issues related to residents and program operations:

  • Include all policies and procedures governing the residents in the GME handbook
  • Be sure your policies and procedures clearly describe who makes the final decision regarding any matter involving a resident
  • Meet with HR director and hospital administrators to review policies for every member of the institution and the related legal requirements
  • Determine which policies and procedures to include in the GME handbook and modify any employee policies as necessary to meet the requirements of residency education
  • Meet annually with legal staff to review the contents of the resident agreement and the GME handbook
  • Require the legal staff to give a “signature approval” of both the resident agreement and the GME handbook at the start of each academic year
  • Meet with program directors, GME committee members, and coordinators to review GME policies and procedures
  • Ensure that everyone understands the rationale, the specific requirement(s) and the authorized decision-maker for each policy and procedure

This week’s tip is from Residency Program Alert. To read more of this article or other articles geared toward residency program leaders and coordinators, click here.
 



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